Tag Archives: ivy lab

Formed by producers Sabre, Stray and Halogenix, Ivy Lab are a North London collective that is part of a nascent movement of bass music refugees cross- pollinating UK soundsystem culture with influences from Future beats, the Mo’Wax era and LA’s Low End Theory focused beat scene. Their debut album adopts a clan style approach where different configurations of members, and collaborators, might operate under the Ivy Lab mantle:

“This LP sits somewhere between a compilation album and a mixtape. The tracks are a mix of solo beats from individual members and collaborative productions between all three of us.”

Inspired by their enthusiasm for experimentation on the fringes of the drum & bass scene; Sabre, Stray and Halogenix joined forces through individual collaborations on their principle label Critical Music before expanding into the formal trio of Ivy Lab. A string of standout singles and EPs, additional support from Goldie’s Metalheadz recordings and remixes for acts and labels including Sub Focus (Universal), TC (3beat) and Anushka (Brownwood) have attracted a wealth of attention to the group.

With an anchored presence at the heart of the drum and bass community secured, the collective have now expanded into fresh territory under the framework of the “20/20” project. Initially established as a clubnight, the project is broadening its scope with the launch of a record label driven by the same raison-d’être as its live-event sibling. Namely to provide a showcase for the emerging landscape of sounds operating in the hinterlands between footwork, jungle/drum’n’bass, hip- hop and future beats – often referred to under the stop-gap moniker of ‘halftime’. Given this new movement’s proximity to Ivy Lab’s musical heritage as a drum and bass act, they view 20/20 as an expansion, rather than a change, in their musical output:

“We have no intention of turning our backs on drum & bass, but we have such a huge body of music in this style that it makes sense for us to create a parallel platform dedicated to this movement.”

The first preview taken from the highly anticipated debut Ivy Lab album entitled “20/20, Vol. 1” released on their fresh new imprint 20/20 LDN Recordings.The LP is set to be released on Friday 6th November.

Building on the success of the debut LP from Killawatt earlier in the year, Osiris Music UK assign three artists to rework three standout tracks from the album. Tommy Four Seven takes the sub-aquatic techno roller ‘Zizi’ back to something dark, brooding and psychedelic using the original dissonant synth lines to create a real early set builder. Eomac turns the dense and distorted ‘Spinal Swarm’ into a spacious sub centred UK techno cut that is more meditative rather than the unnerving aesthetic of its predecessor.Finally Osiris Music UK label boss Mønic, fresh from his release on legendary Berlin techno label Tresor returns to do what he does best with ‘Excessive Hyperbole’ cutting out everything apart from the driving half-time basslines and eerie, dramatic atmospheres, dragging the UK based sound of the original kicking and screaming into the dark depths of the Berlin underground with great effect.

Paradox Music welcomes a new and proven artist to the label with an impressive discography under his belt – Naibu (Creative Source, Horizons Music). ‘Straight Lines’ is a thing of beauty with its organic percussion, synths, pianos, brass, bleep and vocal hooks – and that’s just a small instrument percentage. Rolling b-boy breaks switch with escalating filtered pads and distorted bass snaps. A great debut from Naibu with ‘Straight Lines.’ Paradox Music Quality. PM031 worthy. ‘Replaced’ swings in with Rhode keys and bells flying on top of funky breakbeats for a high quality Drum & Bass number reminiscent of early Seba productions. Bleep pops and bass strums let the drums breathe whilst switching with the key changes. Impressive.

WNCL Recordings continues the 5th Anniversary celebrations with this appropriately titled 4 track EP of underground goodies from label boss, Bob Bhamra – a selection of unreleased and previously dubplate-only affairs from the Cassette Library vaults…Blonde on Blonde: Original mix was the first release on Teal, Denmark in 2010. The label put on a night at the Dunkel bar in Coppenhagen so I made a VIP mix of the track for that night. I think the bar was also immortalised in an Elgato tune tooSay What?: Original mix was released on New Kanada in 2011. Adam Marshall told me last year that he was planning to release a digital only compilation called Ambient Parks where artists on the label were invited to contribute an ambient track reflecting the parks in their area. Adam liked my “Ambient Parks Reprise” but said it was a little on the dark side. I reminded him that he’d clearly never been to a park in West Norwood 😉Think (It Ain’t Illegal Yet): Found this on an old mini disc marked “2003”. I’m hoping Doc Scott doesn’t get to hear it or he’s gonna send the boys round, demanding their riff backUp Periscope!: I originally presented this to ST Holdings (you remember them) as the B side to WNCL001 (“What It Is”). I then got the Brackles remix of “What It Is” and promptly forgot all about it.

As another Summer season of festival fun ebbs away into the memory banks, the Project Mohawk series moves into deeper territories with Part 4 making a firm statement on club dance floors around the world. Felipe Antunes is Young:G, the latest in a growing line of talented Brazilian music producers to light up the drum & bass scene. Having started out making his own beats in 2010, Young:G has come a long way in a relatively short space of time, steadily progressing with a host of respected labels and amassing production credits like a Philatelist would collect prized stamps.Having reached the attention of us here at Broken Audio in late 2014, we are now ready to unleash Young:G’s first solo EP with us, and it surely marks his biggest release to date. With an opening track featuring the mighty vocal skills of true scene legends The Ragga Twins, backed up with a selection of cuts to showcase music as deep as it is uncompromising.